


The New Kid

by grace_elise1616



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: AU, Age Difference, Fluff, Freewood - Freeform, Gavin's POV, High School, Multi, Teenager, closet, cute gay crushes, highschool!Freewood, wow i suck at tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-01-27 16:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1716467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grace_elise1616/pseuds/grace_elise1616
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin Free is an exchange student from England with a secret. He keeps his homosexuality in the closet as he falls for an upperclassmen. He makes friends along the way to help him get adjusted to American High School while trying to get the school jock to fall for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Day

There I was; 16 year old boy, foreign exchange student from England forced into an American high school. My mother and father decided to have me study in America rather than home; they thought it would help me. I was depressed. Oh yeah, that’s another thing about me: I’m gay. Yep. Being a homosexual in secondary school was rough but the fact my last boyfriend spread rumours and pictures of me around the whole bloody country; I had to move.

My parents found a nice host family for my stay in America, the Ramsey’s. Geoff and Griffon; they have a little daughter; I hoped she could be like my little sister. That would someone one I could talk to. 

In the American school system, I would be in the sophomore year in high school, which was the second year in high school. I would have to merge into everyone who had already spent a whole year together. Top. So, let’s see, that’s: 16 years old. Foreign. New kid. Homosexual. Live way across the world from my family. Life was not sterling. 

I grabbed my luggage out of the back of the taxi and watched as the driver pulled away leaving me alone in the front of a house. The Texas heat sizzled off the roof on the home and the pavement seemed to melt in the late August temperature. I set my bags on the door step and took a deep breath before moving my fist to the door. I knocked twice then stepped back off the step and stood at the door, watching the handle turn and seeing a man standing there.

“Hey, Gavin! I’m Geoff!” The man greeted me with a hearty handshake and slightly tugged on my hand to lead me into the cool household. The man had a slight 5 o’clock shadow and a mustache that curled at the end. His dark brown hair made his tired eyes a brighter shade of blue. I looked down at his arms that were FILLED with tats and his casual attire made him a stereotypical stoner American. I promised myself I wouldn’t be quick to judge the Americans, but Geoff was making it hard not to. He led me into a small separate shed-like house to the side of the main home. 

“This is a little house I made for your stay. My wife Griffon and I worked on this for a few months. We started right as we knew we were your host family.” Geoff smiled proudly at his work. “You can go inside and get comfortable if you wish. My wife is getting our daughter from school and will be home soon and I’m sure they would be glad to meet you.” Geoff patted me on the back and turned and started back toward the main house when he stopped and talked over his shoulder, “Oh! Gavin, do you mind swearing?” I shook my head. “Good! Griff and I swear all the time, but one rule; not in front of the little princess, got it? Oh! And welcome to the family, Gavin!” He left me standing outside of my private hut. 

I walked into the room and set my bags on the bed and scanned the room. There were all of the standard bedroom things: bed, mirror, wardrobe, and desk. I walked over to the built-in bathroom that contained a tub, shower, sink and toilet. The bathroom was a calming shade of green, and the walls of the bedroom were a light blue. I looked up to see a skylight in the ceiling above my bed. “Top.” I muttered to myself. “I guess this isn’t too bad.” I then made my way back to the main house.

The whole Ramsey gang was there and their daughter ran up to me and hugged my left leg. “Hi, Gavin! You are now my big brother!” She griped my leg tighter as I struggled to keep balanced. 

“Hey girly. Let the boy breathe.” Griffon spoke sweetly to her daughter and walked over to me and shook my hand. “Nice to meet you, Gavin.” Her nose piecing and her half shaved head was an eye-catcher. Her arms matched Geoff’s; all tattoos. Don’t get me wrong, she was a beautiful woman. Beautiful family. 

“Nice to meet you too.” I looked at the family and grinned.

“Welcome to the family. You can call us mom and dad.” 

* * * 

“TIME FOR SCHOOL, GAVIN!” Dad was bouncing up and down on my bed. He was fully dressed and ready to bolt out of the door. 

I groaned, “Five more minutes…” I rolled over and saw his daughter’s toothless smile next to me. “Oh, sausages!” I exclaimed and jumped from my spot on the bed. 

“Let’s go, Gavin!” She belted cheerfully. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll get ready now.” I caved sitting up and sliding out of the bottom of the bed. I got ready quickly and dumped my backpack on my bed and sprinted for the car.

* * *

I arrived at school and went to the office to receive my list of courses. World History, Algebra II, English, study hall, French I, Film, Public Speaking, Advanced Physics. I sighed and continued down the hallway. 

All the classes were shite. I was so confused in World history. Math was difficult. English was boring. I took a kip in study hall. French was easy as always, though I didn’t even pay attention to that class one bit. Film was great except the teacher had no clue how to work a camera. Public speaking was dull. I had the hardest time getting my locker open and sat alone at lunch. But, it was better than being the center of attention with rumors about you like it was in England. 

It was finally the last period of the day and I was at my locker getting my books for Advanced Physics course when I was slammed against my locker, dropping my text book on the ground.

“Bollocking hell…” I said under my breath as I rubbed the reddening spot on my forehead. I turned to see the one who crashed into me, and not to my surprise, it was a group of tall, bulky jocks. They laughed at my misfortune and continued down the hallway pushing other underclassmen into their lockers as well. I grumbled to myself as I bent down to pick up my book when another person was already retrieving it for me. 

“Hey, sorry about my team, they’re dicks sometimes.” A jock joked as he bent down and picked up my Physics book and handed it to me. “Here you go, kid. Oh! You have Advanced Physics? I’m going to that class now!”

I was blushing at his deep voice and his nice brown hair that was smoothed over, lightly falling on his face. He smiled at me and I stuttered, “O-oh, me too. I’m Gavin Free. I’m new. I’m a sophomore.” 

The jock grinned, revealing a dimple, and added, “Oh? Such a youngling to be in an advanced class, eh? Good luck, lad.” He patted my shoulder and left down the hallway following his teammates. 

I relaxed my shoulders and quietly shut the locker door and glanced back at the jock to see the back of his Letterman jacket. It read, “Haywood”. My heart pumped in my chest and I followed my schedule to room 103; Advanced Physics- Mr. Burns. 

I scanned the room for the cute athlete’s blue jacket with no luck. I slipped to the back of the room and slid into a desk. I set my head down until Mr. Burns started taking roll. 

“Uh..Falme, Emily?” Mr. Burns asked the class as he looked up from his clipboard.

“Here.” A soft feminine voice spoke from the front of the class. 

“Okay.” He marked the paper. “Free, Gavin?”

“Present.” I stated. The room filled with sour snickers. Some punk-ass girl turned her head and stared at me with her raccoon make-up, “Present? It’s ‘Here’, dumb-ass.” The class laughed harder. 

“Okay, students. He’s our foreign exchange student from England. He is a sophomore. Treat him well. Show him America is a better country.” Mr. Burns poked. 

I slumped farther down in my seat and avoided any eye contact. Mr. Burns continued roll, “Alrighty. Good, William?” 

“Here.” 

Mr. Burns marked the attendance sheet. He raised it closer to his eyes before speaking again, “Oh, look who found their way into my class; Haywood, James.” Mr. Burns smiled from ear-to-ear. 

I jolted up in my chair to see the back of Haywood’s brown, satin hair; his blue jacket on the back of the seat. “Uh, Mr. I prefer Ryan.” 

My heart warmed. That was physics, but I was determined to make it chemistry.


	2. New Faces, New Knowledge

The rest of Advanced Physics went slowly. I sat in the back staring at Ryan as I vaguely listened to Mr. Burns review the basics of physics. I know I had a lot to learn because I did not understand a single word Mr. Burns said; but I had a whole year before the final. Ryan sat back in his chair, his feet practically on the desk, his arms crossed. On occasion, Mr. Burns would throw a question at Ryan and he would counter back immediately with the correct response. Ryan was astounding at physics. He was smart, athletic, and hot. I had to focus on the scratched up desk to allow my boner to go down before the bell rang. 

Once it rang, I quickly followed Ryan out of the room but stopped when I saw him walking with his American football teammates again down the hallway. I decided if I needed to make a move I would have to when he was alone. 

I had just opened my locker when I heard a bunch of girls squealing and giggling down the hallway. I glanced around my locker door to see the cheerleaders over by Ryan and his mates. I slowly closed my locker and made my way down the hallway, closer to them. I stopped at the water fountain and listened in on their conversation. The head cheerleader had her hand on Ryan’s shoulder and was closing the distance from between their bodies. Ryan had a sexy smirk on his face as he watched the cheerleader’s head rest on his chest. He closed his eyes and used his arm to hold her closer to him. A sickening, painful knot entered my stomach and I turned my body toward the fountain. How could I not have realized he might not have been gay? He’s a football player; all the girls wanted him. Why would he be gay? Why would he like me? A small tear formed in my eye and I quickly wiped it away and turned my attention to the girls and guys again. 

“So, Ryan…what are you and your team doing tonight?” the blonde girl on him asked.

“We’re going to practice, Barbara.” Ryan said.

“Then we’re all heading out to Hooters. You girls can come if you like.” A tall guy with short dark-brown hair said as he held a brunette by her waist. 

“Oh, Hooters! Nice. Can we come Ryan?” Barbara begged and rested her hand around Ryan’s neck.

“Uhm, sure. I don’t see why not.” He replied. 

“EEK! Yay!” Barbara jumped from Ryan’s hold and clapped her hands and turned to her squad, “Alright, girls. We’re going to go to Hooters with the boys after their practice. Sound good?” She asked them.

They cheered and nodded their heads. Barbara turned to Ryan again, “Okay baby, we’re in. See you there.” She let her hand graze his and led her clique away from the men as they made their way to the field. 

I stood at the fountain slightly broken from the sight of Barbara, the blonde, perky, cheerleader all over Ryan. 

Eventually, I made my way outside to wait for Dad to pick me up. I walked over to the benches that lined the sidewalk when I noticed two boys sitting on a bench; both held a DS in their hand. I decided to go up and strike up a conversation. 

“Hey. I’m Gavin.” I stood in front of the two guys and smiled kindly.

“Hey. I’m Michael.” The one with curly red-brown hair responded and smiled back. 

The one with dark brown hair, thick glasses frames, and facial hair making its way onto his face never broke eye-contact with his DS but said, “I’m Ray.” 

I smiled brighter at the thought of actually having a conversation with someone. I set my bag down by my feet and slipped next to Michael on the edge of the bench. “So, what game are you guys playing?” I questioned, glancing at Michael’s screen.

Michael’s attention was on me with shocked eyes, “Whoa! You have British accent! How come I’ve never seen you before? Were you here last year?”

“I’m beating Michael’s weak Sandshrew with my fully-trained Nidoking.” Ray spoke with a grin on his face.

“Oh shit!” Michael exclaimed, his attention back to his DS as he mashed the ‘A’ button. 

I chuckled, “No. I’m a foreign exchange student. I’m here only for my sophomore year.”

“Shit…” Michael muttered and Ray burst into laughter. Michael closed his DS and placed it into his bag. 

“I win again! You have to train them more, dude!” Ray joked and closed his DS as well. 

“A sophomore, eh?” Michael asked. “Well, welcome to the sophomore year, Gavin. The only good sophomores are me, my girlfriend Lindsay, and Ray.” He stated with a grin.

“Yeah. Lindsay and Michael are so perfect together. The three of us hang out all the time. We make a good team.” Ray beamed from his seat on the other end of the bench. 

“Do you have a girlfriend, Ray?” I asked.

“Nope. I ride solo…’cuz YOLO.” 

Michael rolled his eyes, “Ugh. Shut the fuck up, Ray. YOLO is not cool anymore.” 

“NO! You can’t tell me how to live my life!” Ray laughed and soon joined by Michael. 

I smiled at their friendship. It reminded me how my boyfriend and I were before we broke up. My mind went back to him. His arms around my body, his warmth, his smell. But, one little mistake lead to another and it was ruined. I do not want to say I missed him, but I missed having someone. 

My thoughts were interrupted by a car horn honking in front of me. It was Dad, he rolled down the window and shouted, “Hey Gavin! Time to go. We are having a family dinner tonight!” 

“Aww. Hi, Gavin’s daddy!” Ray waved to Dad and he waved back smiling smugly. 

“I’m Gavin’s host father, so yes, I am technically his daddy for right now. Are you his first friends?” 

“Yes, sir. He is very well behaved too. It must be getting close to tea-time, though” Michael chimed in.

“Shut up!” I barked. I stood up from the bench and grabbed my bag and walked to the car.

All three of them laughed. “See you tomorrow, Gavin.” Michael added when I was getting into Dad’s car. 

Two friends. 

 

* * *

Mom and Dad took the family out to P.F. Chang’s for a family dinner. After we ordered our food and it arrived, Mom started the classic question:

“So, Gavin. How was school?” She asked as she dug her fork into her food.

“Uh. Fine. I made two friends. They were playing Pokémon. Michael and Ray.” I said while I played with my food on my plate. 

“Any cute girls, Gavin?” my little sister asked innocently from beside me. 

“Oh..uh. No. I don’t really look at girls..uh, I mean, I like to focus on my school work more than look at girls. Education is important.” I panicked. I didn’t want to tell them I was gay. It was only the second day I knew them. 

Dad’s eyebrows quivered before he returned to his dinner. 

Phew. Close one.

* * *

After dinner, I went through my bags. I placed my suitcase on the nightstand next to my bed. I dug through it and found the picture frame I put at the bottom of the suitcase. I looked at the picture and hundreds of memories flooded my mind. The last picture me and my boyfriend took before it all went wrong. It was our summer holiday, we visited Disneyland, Paris. The magical pink castle as our backdrop. Although he was only a few centimeters taller than me, he had his hands on my waist, mine around his neck as we shared a kiss. It was a perfect day. I promised I would never forget that day so I printed the picture and framed it. So, there I was, even after we had broken up, I kept that picture with me; even on the other side of the ocean. I dried the tear on my cheek and set my picture back on top of my suitcase and went into the shower.

After my shower, I had returned to see my bed made. A sticky-note rested on my pillow: "It’s past your bedtime, young man. Get some rest for school tomorrow –Love Daddy." Dad had signed it with a heart at the bottom. 

“Man. I don’t know it’s lucky or unfortunate to be stuck with this family.” I chuckled to myself and tucked myself in and drifted off to sleep. 

* * *

The next day at school, I walked into my French class and picked the backmost desk. I set my textbook down and took a seat and glanced at the door. Ryan walked in with his blue Letterman jacket on and caught my eyes. He smirked, revealing his dimple once again and made his way toward the back of the room. 

“Hey…Gavin, right?” Ryan asked as he set down his book on the desk in front of me.

I nodded rapidly. “Yep.” God, I’m such an idiot. 

He let out a huff, “Cool. Is uh, is there anyone sitting here?” He gestured to the desk. 

“No. Just me back here, haha.” Shit, just shut up, Gavin. 

“Right. Okay.” He sat down and took out his notebook and pen just in time for Professor Fontaine to start class. 

“Bonjour classe. Aujourd'hui, nous aurons toute la leçon en français!” Professor Fontaine spoke as he wrote the class agenda on the whiteboard. The class was looking at each other in hopes someone understood what he just said. 

I decided to try my luck with it, so I raised my hand, “Je ne pense pas qu'ils ont compris ce que vous avez dit. Pouvez-vous le dire en anglais pour eux?”

Professor Fontaine whipped around at the sound of my fluent French and the class fell SILENT. Ryan turned around to face me, jawed dropped and with a confused look. 

“Bonne idée, Monsieur Free.” Professor Fontaine nodded at me and a smile grew across his face. “Ok, class.” He spoke to the class, “Today we are going to try to talk in French the whole day, this is so you can get used to speaking it.” 

Ryan whispered, “Hey, Gavin. What did you say to him?” 

I leaned forward and whispered back, “I told him that you guys didn’t understand what he said, and asked him to say it in English for you guys.” I smiled. 

“Are you fluent in French?”

I shrugged, “Eh. I know a lot of it.” 

“Monsieur Free!” Professor Fontaine snapped.

“Désolé professeur.” I said quietly. Sorry professor. 

“Hey, Gavin. After class, I want to ask you a question.” Ryan smiled.

I nodded and relaxed back into me chair as Ryan turned back to the front of the class. He wanted to ask me a question.


	3. Interactions

After French was over, I stood up from my desk and collected my things. I was placing my notes in my bag when Ryan spoke, surprising me, and causing me to drop my papers on the floor. I bent down to retrieve them when Ryan’s hand fell on top of mine. He smiled for a split second then immediately took back his hand and allowed me to collect my papers. 

“Huh. Are you always dropping things?” Ryan chuckled nervously trying to cover up his slightly flushed face.

“Only if I’m being shoved or scared to hell.” I said deadpan and slid my papers into my bag and swung it onto my shoulder. 

Ryan laughed and led the way out of the classroom and down the hall. “Sorry, kid. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to ask you that question I had earlier.” He took me into the senior hallway, and stopped at the lockers. He entered a combination and opened the door to his locker, placing his French book into it. “So. You are really good at French, huh?”

I shrugged. “I used to go to Paris all the time with friends and whatnot. I have picked up a lot of the language. I also had a few years of French in primary school, which helped with the basics of it.” I was not about to brag about it, though. 

“Aw, come on, Gavin! You are fluent in it!” He patted my arm and reached into his locker and grabbed a crumpled piece of paper. He felt up his pockets and then looked at me, “Do you have a pen, Gavin?”

I let my bag hit the floor and I reached to find my pens. I handed it to him. 

“Well, since you are so good in French…and I REALLY need to pass this class to graduate…I was hoping you’d be willing to tutor me?” Ryan asked as he wrote something on the piece of rubbish. 

“Sure! No problem! I’d be happy to help you, Ryan!” I chirped. 

His dimple appeared again as he handed me his paper, “Here. It’s my number. Text me later. I have football practice today, so we would have to have the tutoring thing tomorrow, sound okay?”

I causally took the paper and slipped it into my back pocket. “Sure thing, Ryan. Sounds okay.”

He grinned and patted my shoulder, “Cool. See you around then.” And he left down the hallway. 

I waited for him to turn the corner before taking out the paper and putting his number into my phone. 

* * *

Once I got home, I went on Facebook and confirmed friend requests from Ray and Michael. I was really happy that I found some friends who were attempting to make me feel welcome to this country. 

I was just looking at Reddit when there was a knock at my door. I glanced at the door to see Dad standing in the doorway and nodded so he was welcomed in my room. I sat up from my bed and smiled at him, “Hey Dad.”

He gave weak smile and sat at the end of my bed facing me, “Hey, Gavin. Hey, can I ask you a question?” He rubbed his arm shyly and looked at the ground. 

I set my phone aside slowly, “Uh...yeah..?” I raised my voice almost as if it were a question.

He let out a small chuckle before beginning, “Well. At dinner yesterday, you said, ‘I don’t really pay attention to girls’, that kind of caught my attention for a moment but I brushed it off. And…when you were taking a shower, I came in here and made your bed and left you that note…” His voice trailed off and my heart stopped awaiting his next sentence, even though I knew what was coming. “I noticed something on the top of your suitcase. I WASN’T GOING THROUGH YOUR STUFF! It was just on the top. It was a picture of you…and you were at Disney…” He met his eyes to mine in hopes he wouldn’t have to finish his assumption. Shit. I knew I should have put that picture back on the bottom.

“Hey, Dad? I’m gay.” I spoke. “That picture, was my last boyfriend… his name is Dan. Daniel. That was our summer holiday to Disneyland. Just a few months before we broke up.” my eyes trailed to Dad’s and he had a simple-listening voice. I continued, “I didn’t want to tell you, at least not yet. I know people in America sometimes have a harder time when their children come out to them. I was scared you wouldn’t want a homosexual in your house and you’d send me back to England or som—“ I was cut off by Dad embracing me into a hug. 

“Gavin. You are so brave. I am proud of you, son.” He held me by the shoulders and looked me in the eyes with a big grin, his mustache raising. “I don’t care if you are gay, bisexual, Trans, straight, pansexual, or anything. Griff and I are very accepting people. The princess will understand as well. You do not have to hide it here, Gavin.” He shook me reassuringly. He hugged me once more. “And, I won’t pry, but if you ever want to talk about what happened with Dan. I am here for you. Mom too. Okay?” He smiled warmly at me and walked towards the door. He turned his head back to me and grinned, “This doesn’t mean I won’t tease you about boys, you know that, right?”  
I let out a slight chuckle, “Right, Dad. Thanks, though…ya’know, for understanding.” 

He nodded and closed the door. 

I went back to my phone and saw a message from Ray via Facebook. “Here, call me dude” and he put his phone number after it. I then dialed the number and heard the dial-tone.

“’Yellow?” Ray said on the other end of the line.

“Ray?” 

“Hey, Brit! I’m bored and I thought I’d give you my number so we can talk. I’m just playing Mario Cart on DS. The graphics suck badly compared to the Wii but it’s whatever.” Ray went on ranting about his videogames and I listened while roaming my bedroom. I glanced at the clock: 7:30PM.

“Yeah. That’s great, Ray.” I said tiredly when a yawn escaped my mouth. 

“Hey man. Don’t fall asleep on me now. You are on American time now.” Ray laughed at his own joke. “Look. If you want, you can just text me if yo—“

“BOLLOCKS!” I yelled. I quickly put Ray to speaker and switched to my messages app. I composed a new text to ‘Ryan’. I had completely forgotten to text Ryan after his practice. 

“What’s wrong, dude?” Ray asked. 

“I just forgot to text someone.” I murmured; starring at my messages hoping for a reply.

“Oh.” Ray stated. I could barely make out the feint sound of Mario Cart from Ray’s side of the call.

*BEEP* New Message from ‘Ryan’ : "Hey Gav :)"

I smiled at Ryan’s nickname for me. I decided not to rush into the conversation, and took it slowly: "Hey. How was practice?" 

‘Ryan’: "Tiring. I’m hanging with the team + cheers @ Hooters. Tradition 2 eat 2gether"

Me: "Oh. Top. Sound fun."

‘Ryan’: "Top? Yeah, I guess. It gets kinda boring after a while tho"

I was going to reply to him again but it said he was typing again. Soon enough, I received a new message. 

‘Ryan’: "This is Barbara, stop texting Ryan. We need to have time alone. Bye loser."

I had: “Ok sorry” queued in the message box but ended up deleting it and sighed back into the phone. Ray heard my sigh, “Hey Gavin? You alright? What happened?” 

“Oh. It’s ok. Thank you, Ray. But Dad is telling me to go to bed now.” I lied. 

“Okey-dokey. I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow, yeah?” Ray questioned.

“Wot? Lunch?” 

“Yeah! You can sit with Lindsay, Michael and I at lunch tomorrow. You are welcome if you wanna. Friends are always welcome” I heard him smile as he said the word ‘friends’. 

“Okay. Sounds good, Ray. Thank you! Bye.”

“See ‘ya man.” The call ended. 

I flinched at the last text from Ryan and sunk into my bed. I turned off the light and rolled over and looked at the message once more. 

“’Alone time’. Lord knows what they’re doing. Get your fantasies out of your head, Gavin. You and him will never happen. I repeated to myself and locked my phone, draining out any light left in the room. “Hopefully tomorrow will be better.”


	4. Tutoring Session

The next day, as soon as the lunch bell rang, I made my way to the food line. I scanned the sign at the front of the line that read the day’s menu: Corndog, green beans, and apple slices. What kind of meal is this? Those don’t even go together. I worked up the courage to finally stand in line for the first time in the three days I have been attending the school. I grabbed a tray and walked to the food bar. The lunch woman had her hair neatly in her net as she wore a tired smile and dumped apple slices on my plate. 

I was making my way to get my corndog when someone slid their tray down and slammed it into mine. 

“Hey!? What are you on about?!” I spit back at the slider to see Ray laughing at me. 

“Hey, Gavin.” Ray chuckled and made his way back to his tray over on my end of the line. “What’s shakin’, bacon?”

“Uh...I’m just going to receive my first corndog. If that means anything.”

“Oh, ew! That shit is nasty, Gavin. But, as being part of an American society now, you must eat one now.” He said matter-a-factly. 

The other lunch lady placed a breaded hotdog on a stick on my plate and I waited for Ray to get his, then he led the way out of the kitchen and into the main seating in the cafeteria. I looked around to see the whole school sitting, chatting, eating. The sound of everyone was loud and it bounced off the walls but it didn’t seem to bother anyone else. 

“Linds and Michael are over here. Keep up.” Ray said going into the far backside of the cafeteria. 

We passed the large table with the football team and cheerleaders. I looked at the seats to try to spot Ryan. He was sitting at the head of the table with Barbara on his lap, facing him. She had her arms around his neck and was not-so-discretely moving her hips on him. He had his hands on her waist and grinned slyly. I never removed my eyes from them as I followed Ray. 

Then to my surprise, Ryan’s eyes broke from Barbara and looked up at me. Our eyes meet and he smiled wider. I grinned back and he removed one of his hands from Barbara’s waist to wave at me passing by his table. Ray then led me past their table and my back was to Ryan. I didn’t care to look back. 

“Welcome to ‘la mesa de mi amigos’!” Ray joked as he gestured to the table with Michael and his girlfriend. 

“Oh! Hey, Gavin. You made it today. This is Lindsay, my girlfriend.” Michael spoke through his corndog. 

“Hi!” Lindsay chirped. Her brown-red hair was shiny and just about rested on her shoulders. Her simple t-shirt and ripped worn jeans matched Michael’s personality which made it obvious why they made such a good couple. 

“Hey.” I said placing my tray on the table across from Michael and Lindsay. I slid into my seat and stared at my plate with apples and a corndog. 

Ray tapped my left shoulder, “I’ll eat it once you eat it.” 

“Oh shut the fuck up, Ray! This shit is good!” Michael shouted from across the table, taking a chomp at his dog. Lindsay nodded in agreement as she finished hers. 

I picked up the corn dog and sniffed it, taking in the unique aroma. American food. Here goes nothing. I took a nibble out of the side and started to chew. 

My table was watching me for my response, so I continued to chew. I looked back at the food before taking another, bigger bite.

“Ha! I told you they weren’t bad! Even the Brit likes it!” Michael yelled pointing at Ray with pride in his voice.

“Yeah, yeah. He still has yet to try your hamburgers, Michael.” Ray teased. “Now THAT is gross.” 

Lindsay sheepishly added, “He’s kinda right, babe.” 

Michael’s face showed defeat. “Really? Well. Gavin’s still gotta try it if he wants to be our friends.” He declared, reaching for his second corndog. 

I was staring over Michael’s and Lindsay’s shoulders at the football team. I could only see the back of Ryan’s head and Barbara’s smile. I guess I was looking for too long because Lindsay spoke up, “Uh...Gavin? Is everything alright?” She turned her head back to see what I was looking at. 

“Oh!” I broke my stare, “Yeah…it’s all good. Thanks Lindsay.” I then stared at my tray of half eaten food. 

“What’s going on?” Michael questioned with a full mouth.

“I think Gavin was looking at the cheerleaders.” Lindsay confessed.

“Oh. Gavin, buddy, listen. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of American high school movies about getting the cheerleader, but trust me; you do not want our cheerleaders.” Michael spoke sincerely. 

I lifted my head to meet eyes with Michael. I just decided to go along with this. “Why not?”

“They are thirsty hoes.” Ray interjected. 

Lindsay and Michael nodded. “Yeah,” Michael continued, “they act like sweet innocent little girls, when all they want is one night. If you know what I mean. They don’t really care if you like them or not, they just want to get in your pants one way or another.”

“Michael’s right.” Lindsay added. “I used to be best friends with Barbara Dunkelman, the head cheerleader, back in middle school. She and I would hang out all the time. But then, once high school started, she joined the cheerleaders and then she became a bitch. Last time I talked to her she had just been with Jack Pattillo, the football team’s runner back. Now I see her trying for the quarterback and captain, Ryan Haywood.” She shook her head in disdain. 

“Oh…okay. I see.” I spoke softly. She is just using Ryan? That bitch. 

“Hey, its ok, man.” Ray patted my back and threw a smile at me. “There are plenty of other girls at this school ready to pounce on that sexy British accent of yours.” 

“Yeah.” I concluded. But would my accent swoon boys too? Ryan Haywood to be exact. 

* * * 

Lunch went on fine and so did my other classes. As I was walking with Ray, Michael, and Lindsay outside the school we passed the football team. Ryan and I made eye contact and he mouthed, “See you later” over the crowd. I nodded in understanding and he smiled. 

He is coming over to my house. Shit. I still have to tell Mom and Dad. “Oh hey guys, I gotta run. I have something to do!” I took off running to my house.

I burst through the front door, startling Dad from his place in front of the television. “Hey, Gavin…? I was just about to leave to pick you up, why are you here?”

I caught my breath; luckily I had taken track back in the UK. “Dad. A friend of mine is coming over today so I can tutor him in French.”

His eyebrows lifted comically and his eyes widened. He stood up from the sofa and turned off the TV. “A 'him', huh? What’s his name?”

“Ryan. His real name is James, but he goes by Ryan. Ryan Haywood.” 

Dad strolled into the kitchen and grabbed a RedBull from the fridge. “Why does he go by Ryan?”

I shrugged, “But I just thought I’d tell you that he was coming over so I could help him with French.”

“I get it. So…is he cute?” Dad smirked. 

“Shut up.” I mumbled, kicking the ground. 

“Well, I can tell you are crushing on this guy. I promised I’d tease you about them, so c’mon, what is he like?” He went on, opening his RedBull and taking sip. 

“Okay…he is tall, kinda hulky; he is the captain of the football team. He is a senior; he is really good at physics. He has sandy-brown hair, just a little lighter than mine.”

“He sounds cute. You two would be cute together I think.” He took another swig of his drink.

“I wish.” I exhaled. “Ryan is straight though. He and this cheerleader are always on each other…” I trailed off. 

“Ah well. I’m sure things will work out no matter what.” Dad said sincerely.

“I hope so.”

* * *

It was then half past 5 and I was waiting anxiously at the kitchen table. The princess was working on her homework that I would every-so-often assist her with. 

No sooner than later I heard a car drive up in front of the house. I leaped from my chair and ran to the door. I looked out the front window to see a used pick-up truck. Ryan hopped out of the car. He was in a simple t-shirt and slightly worn-out jeans. He looked so sexy when he was in laid-back clothes. He grabbed his backpack from the back of his truck and swung it over his shoulder. He stepped up the pathway toward the house and I hid behind the door. 

I waited a few seconds after he rang the bell before opening the door. He greeted me with a big smile, showing off his dimple that I only see when it is just him and me. “Hey Gav." He spoke. I blushed at his nickname he uses for me. God I love that name. Gav.

“Hello. I’m Geoff Ramsey, Gavin’s host father.” Dad held out a hand for Ryan to shake hands with. 

“Hello, sir. I’m James Haywood, but I prefer to go by Ryan.” Ryan shook his hand and smiled warmly at Dad. 

“Well. I think we should start studying, huh Ryan?” I suggested as I gestured my hand towards my room.

“Right. Okay. Nice to meet you, Mr. Ramsey.” Ryan nodded and started walking toward my room. 

I followed Ryan but looked back at Dad. He shot me a big thumbs up and stupid childish grin. I mouthed, “Shut up” and then led the way to my separate little hut. 

I led Ryan into my room and stood in front of my bed and turned back to face him again. 

“Wow.” He said in an impressed tone. “This is really cool.” 

“Thanks.” I blushed at the ground. Ryan tossed his backpack on my bed and took out his French I textbook. 

“So…should we start?” He took his phone out of his pocket and placed it on the bed, falling next to it. He sat crisscrossed on the bed and I grabbed my textbook and sat opposite of him. 

I opened the book to the first chapter and spoke as if to imitate Professor Fontaine, “Chapter one: The Basics of French.” I glanced up from the book to see Ryan already staring at me with a smile. When he noticed that I caught him, his eyes darted down at his book and cleared his throat. 

“Right. Ok. Basics.” He strutted. 

“Yes…so…’Oui’ means…?” I quizzed Ryan.

“Yes. That was an easy one.” Ryan responded quickly. 

I chuckled, “I know, I know. I just wanted to make sure you knew that. Okay, how about, ‘Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?’?”

He looked at the ceiling and sighed. “Uh…is that like…’do you speak English’?”

“Yeah! Good job! You’re doing fine.” I smiled as he smiled back at me, revealing his dimple. “Okay, how about ‘Est-ce que vou—“ 

I was cut off by the sound Ryan’s phone ringing. He looked at the screen, “God damn. Not you again.” He grumbled. He tapped the red button on the Incoming Call message and proceeded to send a text. 

“Uh…who was that?” I asked slowly in case he did not want me budding into his business. 

“Oh…sorry. Yeah. Just this cheerleader. Her name is Barbara. She is always all over me. She’s clingy, ya know?” Ryan admitted. “I’m texting her that I’m busy now.”

Barbara? He thinks she’s annoying? “Is that the bird who was sitting on you in lunch today?”

His eyes rolled, “Yeah…that’s her. She doesn’t know what ‘personal space’ is.” He tossed his phone back on the bed and sat forward on his book again. 

“Ha, yeah. I’ve noticed that.” I muttered under my breath. 

“What?” Ryan inquired looking up from his textbook.

“Uh, so you don’t like her…?” I spoke softly. 

He burst into laughter. His sexy laughs boomed throughout my room, warming my heart. “NO!” He laughed more, making it hard to hear his words. His head tilted back, “No! HAHA! I like dick!” 

“WOT?!” I yelled.

He took a sharp intake of air and his amusement ended instantly. “Shit…uh…” He searched for another thing to say.

“You’re gay?” I beat him to it.

He slouched his shoulders and he slowly looked me in the eyes, “Yeah.” He said slowly. “But, you are the only one who knows! I’m still in the closet, to everyone. Not even my family knows.”

I shot him a confused look. “Why haven’t you told anyone? Why do you let Barbara touch you then? Why did you just say that to me in the first place if you aren’t out yet?” 

“First question; I haven’t told anyone because I am the captain of the football team and I have to tackle, change, and shower with those guys. If they knew I was gay, they would treat me different. I have worked hard to get to be captain…I only have this last season then I’m done with high school, I thought I could make it this one last year. Plus, my family would not be okay with this...at all. Second question; I let Barbara do that because it looks more obvious that I enjoy her doing that. If I told the hottest girl in school not to touch me, the boys might think I was gay…which is right, but I do not want that. Third question; I think I was able to come out to you because I happen to have a crush on you, Gav.” He never broke eye contact with me. 

“You…you like me…?” I said as the corners of my mouth started to rise. 

His hand slapped his face and he grumbled into his hand, “I know. I’m sorry. I just can’t help it. Your hair, your accent, your body; oh man, today at lunch as you walked passed me, your ass looked so cute in those jeans of yours, yo—“ 

I cut him off when I sprung on him and embraced him into a hug; his back laying on my bed and my arms wrapping around his neck. 

He giggled and wrapped his arms around my back, “So…I’m assuming you’re cool with it then, huh kid?”

I sat up quickly, “Am I? Ever since you helped pick up my books I liked you. But I saw Barbara all over you and then I thought you two were a thing…then I kicked myself for thinking you were gay like me…”

His hand rested on my shoulder, “Gav, just because I came out to you… doesn’t mean we can be public.” He spoke seriously. 

I sighed. “I understand, Ryan.” 

A grin grew on his face, “But that doesn’t mean anything about being in private.” He pulled me for a kiss but before we were an inch away, there was a knock on the door. We both snapped back and buried our faces into our respective textbook. The door opened with Mom smiling, “Hey boys, I made dinner. Ryan? You can stay if you want.” 

“Oh, thank you Mrs. Ramsey, but I told my family I’d eat dinner with them. Gav and I are finished so I’ll leave so your family doesn’t have to wait for him to eat. Thank you again for the offer.” Ryan started to pack his book back in his bag. 

Mom nodded and closed the door. 

Ryan stood from the bed and grabbed his phone and slid into his pocket. I set my book aside and stood from the bed next to Ryan. I watched as he placed his book in his bag, his toned- tanned arms flexing slightly. He swung his bag over his shoulder and turned to face me. 

“Well. It has been a pleasure, Gav.” He extended his arm for me to shake it. I placed my hand in his and instead of a shake; he used his arm to pull me closer. His mouth brushed up against my ear, whispering, “We need to have another tutoring session soon.” He pecked my cheek and backed up, letting go of our hands. He started for the door before he turned once again to me, “Hey, I have practice tomorrow, stay after and watch maybe? I’ll be looking for you, sophomore.” He smiled and left my room. 

I waited a few seconds, “HE LIKES ME!!” I shouted as I fist pounded the air. “Ryan Haywood likes me!!” I jumped on my bed and nuzzled my face in my pillow to scream more. I then turned on my back and smiled at the ceiling. Things are starting to look brighter.


	5. Friends Tell Secrets

The next day after school I was hanging out with Michael, Ray, and Lindsay on the stadium bleachers watching the football team warm up for practice. 

“Look,” Michael stressed, “all I’m sayin’ is; there is no way you can defeat an Arceus with a Magikarp no matter how much training it has!!”

“Yes it is!!” Ray countered. “I’ve trained a Sunkern enough to beat a Metang once! It is possible!” 

“Ladies, ladies, calm down.” Lindsay chuckled. “We all know my fully trained Lugia can beat all of your Pokemon’s asses!” Then Lindsay, Michael, and Ray all burst into laughter. 

“Guys, I appreciate you staying here with me, but I have to stay all practice…” I said quietly as I broke my stare from Ryan on the field. 

“It’s fine, man. I’m going home with Lindsay today, so we’re just waiting for her mom anyway.” Michael said patting my back. 

“Yeah…and I just walk home anyways…why you have to wait until after the football practice anyway?” Ray questioned. 

“Uh, Dad has to pick up Sis first today…so yeah.” I lied.

“Alright. But why are you just sitting watchin—“ Ray started but was cut off by Lindsay.

“Oh! My mom is here, Michael. Let’s go.” She said looking at her phone and stood up from her place on the bleachers, followed by Michael. “Bye Ray, bye Gavin.”

“Yea, bye losers!” Michael teased and followed Lindsay down the stairs and intertwined fingers with her as they turned the corner to the parking lot. 

“Well. Now we wait.” Ray said. He leaned up on the bleachers behind us and looked down at the field. “Man…football is too much physical activity. And outside.” Ray gave a fake shiver. 

“Yeah.” I said half paying attention.

“And you have to be in pretty good shape too. Working out and stuff. Lifting. And other scary fitness things.” 

“Yep.” I admired Ryan doing pushups on the grass. His head lifted up and looked right at me. I could see his smile so I smiled back down at him. 

* * *

After an hour or so, Ray left because he was getting hungry. I was sitting on the bleachers looking down at my phone when I heard a group of girls join the lower part of the bleachers. I looked over at them to see the cheerleaders giggling and goofing around. “Brilliant” I muttered to myself. 

Soon enough practice was over and I collected my things and made my way down the bleachers. Ryan was over at the bench packing his gear up and he made eye contact with me. “Wait for me.” He mouthed from across the field. 

He made his way over to me at the bottom of the bleachers and smiled, “Hey, Gav. Wanna come over and hang at my place today? I got nothing to do.” 

“Uh, YES!” I said a little too excitedly. He chuckled and started to lead me to his car in the student parking. 

We were stopped by Barbara and the other cheerleaders. Barbara put her hand on Ryan’s arm, “Hey Ryan…wanna drive me and Kara to Hooters today?”

Ryan took back his arm, “Sorry, Barb. I’m taking this sophomore home today.” He continued to his car.

“Ew! Is that the lanky Brit? Why is he going over to your place, baby?” Barbara pleaded, desperately chasing after Ryan. 

“I have to tutor him in Physics.” Ryan marched still, he grabbed the back of my neck and I nearly melted at the feel of his huge hands on me. He used his hand to slightly push me faster and away from Barbara. 

“Fine then!” Barbara gave up and halted at the beginning of the parking lot. She let out a huff before snapping back to strut to the field. 

Ryan unlocked his old white and red pick-up truck and threw his bags into the bed of the truck and held out his hand. I stared at his hand and threw him a confused glance. He smiled, showing off that dimple, and rolled his eyes, “Gav. Your bag, please?” 

“Oh! Right. My bad.” I quickly took of my bag from my shoulders, handed it to Ryan and watched as he threw it into the back with his. 

Ryan opened the driver’s door and hopped in. That was when my brain signaled to go around to the passenger’s side. I made my way into the seat and looked over at Ryan who was watching me get into his truck. He smiled and I smiled back. We just sat and looked at each other for a few quiet moments before Ryan cleared his throat and his eyes went to the key and turned the ignition. “Well Gav, let’s go to my house.”

* * *

A short drive from the school, Ryan pulled into the driveway of a small, one story home. The vines from the trees grew onto the house with faded yellow paint. He turned the car off and hopped out, grabbing his bags and mine from the back. I slid out of his car and went around to retrieve my bag from Ryan. I waited for him to walk up the pavement towards the house, when instead he walked around me and walked DOWN the pavement towards the street. I stood next to his car and started to point to the house when Ryan spoke from the street, “Hey, you coming, Gav?” 

“I, uh, I am, I am.” I briskly made my way to the street and followed Ryan down the street, away from the house. “Why did you park there, Ryan? Where are we going?” I asked.

“That is the maid’s house. That is her husband’s truck. We are walking to my house.” He said with no emotion. 

“Why do you drive the maid’s husband’s car?” 

“Because I like it better than my new Ferrari.” 

“You have a Ferrari but you drive a crummy old pickup truck that belongs to your maid’s husband?”

“Ya know, Gavin. You ask an awful lot of questions even though you seem to comprehend the conversation.” He smirked as we rounded the street corner. There, stood three or four huge estates. All mansion sized. “See that one?” Ryan pointed to the last one on the street, “That’s my house.”

My jaw dropped to the ground and there was no question as to why they could afford a Ferrari. “Wow, Ryan! I had no idea you were so filthy rich!” 

Ryan’s laugh echoed down the street. “Thanks! I like to keep it on the down low. My dad is a chemical scientist and my mom is a brain surgeon. We have a good income to say the least. I prefer to be more relaxed. Also, about my name, they call me James because ‘that is what they named me’ and not Ryan...so yeah. AND! Most importantly, they are homophobes. They don’t know I’m gay and would KILL me if they found out. So…I can’t make out with you right now, okay?” Ryan nudged me. 

“Alright, Ry—oops, I mean, James.” I grinned and we walked up to his front door and knocked. 

A few seconds later the door opened to a small woman in an apron, “Oh, hello, James! Welcome home.” She took his football bag and he slyly gave her back the keys to the truck and she smiled and winked at him. “Oh? Who’s this?” She noticed me. 

“Hi, I’m Gavin Free.” I waved to her from the doorway. 

“Oh hello, Gavin! Come in, come in!” She beckoned me into the manor. I looked around and it looked just about as beautiful as the Buckingham Palace. The afternoon sun shone brightly into the room with marble floors and expensive leather furniture. “Oh, James, your parents are on the porch!” The small woman smiled at me once before going down a hallway, leaving Ryan and I in his huge foyer. Ryan walked over to a small panel of buttons on the wall. The labels read the names of various rooms in a house like ‘bathroom 5’ or ‘kitchen 3’. The usual. Ryan pressed the ‘back porch’ button and I heard a slight buzz from a doorbell somewhere in the house. Ryan sighed and lazily looked at me, “They’ll be here in a minute.”

Before long, his parents entered the living room, instantly eyeing me. 

“Hello James.” His father spoke and nodded in his direction. 

“Father.” Ryan replied. He was soon embraced by his mom.

“Hi, sweetie! How was football?” She asked as she backed up from their hug. 

“Fine…as usual, mother. But I have company over so I’d like to get to entertaining my guest, please?” Ryan requested. “This is Gavin Free. He is a foreign exchange student from England. I am going to help him in our Advanced Physics class.” 

The man in the brown business suit eyed me from head to toe. My purple polo, dark jeans, and my old Converse. The woman smiled nicely at me and reached out to shake my hand, “Hello, Gavin. I’m Victoria, James’ mother.” She then gestured to her husband, “This is Sebastian, James’ father.” The intimidating man shook my hand and I gave him a respectful smile with it. 

“Okay then, parents. Gavin and I will be studying in library if you need us.” Ryan gave them a head nod and turned and made his way to the hallway I saw his maid go down earlier. I followed behind. 

After we passed countless doors and other hallways, we made our way to the library. Ryan opened the door and revealed an enormous room filled with books, awards, a coffee bar, and three computers. Ryan entered the room and placed his backpack on one of the tables in the center of the room, “Okay, Gav. Stay in here. I’m gonna go run and take a shower real quick…because to be honest,” he paused to smell under his arm. He quivered away with a disgusted face which was immediately replaced with a smile, “I smell bad. And again, to be honest, I want to impress you not repel you.” He smiled and lightly brushed his hand against mine as he left the room. 

When my heart returned to a normal beat, I decided to look around the room. I browsed the coffee bar with two coffee makers and a dozen mugs with creams and sugars in their respective bowls. I made my way over to the desks with top-of-the-line computers sitting on top. I then strolled over to the colossal trophy case filled with awards. 

The trophies in the front all read things like, “Football Fall Season MVP: James Haywood” and “Most Athletic Award Winner: James Haywood”. There was about fifteen of them so I decided to move on. As I was walking past the case, I noticed something shiny behind all of the trophies. Moving back to where I was standing before, I looked around the trophies to see five plaques that read: “Talent Show Winner: Age Group 5: James”. “Talent Show Winner: Age Group 6: James”. “Talent Show Winner: Age Group 7: James”. “Talent Show Winner: Age Group 8: James”. “Elementary School Science Fair Winner: James Haywood”. 

“Huh? Talent show…? I thought Ryan always did football…” I muttered to myself in the quiet room.

“Not until I was ten.” Ryan’s deep voice rang through the library.

“BOLLOCKS!” I jumped. “Ryan! You scared the living daylights out of me!” 

He laughed and walked over to where I was standing in front of the trophy case. I could smell his masculine scent that came off of his warm body. “Sorry, Gav. But yeah, I used to dance. Tap and ballet. Used to win talent shows all the time.”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “HA! You danced?” 

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, fuzz ball!” Ryan countered before he wrapped his left arm around my neck and used his right hand to give me a noogie. I fell to my knees, bringing Ryan down with me. I placed both of my hands on his upper body and used all of my force to pin him to the ground. I hovered on top of him, my face only a few centimeters from his. Ryan’s eyes were wide, “Wow! I didn’t know you could do that! You just pinned me…” He said dumbfounded. 

“Don’t you mean ‘Impressive. Most impressive’, Mr. Star Wars Reference Guy?” I teased above his face. His eyes looked at mine and I was ready to kiss him. 

“Uh, Gav. I think we need to get up though in case my parent’s heard us, yeah?” Ryan said hesitantly.

“Right. Good plan.” I quickly got up from the ground and fixed my shirt. 

“Where was I…?” Ryan continued, “Oh! Yeah. Dance. It was my passion. I loved music and dance and all of that stuff. But…my father didn’t like that his only son was doing ballet. He was the classic ‘high school jock’ back in the day so he decided to sign me up for football when I was ten. Since then, I had to be the best damn football player there ever was…because all hell would break loose if I was gay. That’s why I can’t tell them I’m gay. I have to be ‘the best’…” Ryan got quiet and stared at the floor. 

I placed my hand on his back, “Ryan? I don’t care if you’re gay…I still think you are the best.” 

He looked at me and gave a weak smirk. “Thanks Gavin. I think you’re pretty good too…for a gay guy.” 

“See? That’s the funny Ryan I know! Come on…I’m kinda thirsty for some joe and I have no idea how to work the bloody git.”

“’The bloody git’.” Ryan repeated it slower as if he was trying to figure out what I said. 

“Just forget it and make us some damned coffee, you pleb.”

“Gavin? Have I ever told you how much I love your colorful vocabulary?” Ryan admired.

“Is that another gay joke?”

“Maybe.”


	6. “Friends” Tell Even More Secrets

It had been a great few months for me; Ryan and I would have study “dates” every week, I came out to Michael, Lindsay, and Ray, and I had passed the first quarter of American high school. Ryan and I hung out ALL the time, although we never really had much romantic contact. Which was fine with me, I knew he liked me as much as I liked him. Coming out to my friends was difficult but I knew I had to eventually. 

I came out to Ray first, I felt like I could trust him and that he would be more understanding. So I called him and asked him to come over to play some videogames. So he came over to my house and he noticed that I was a little fidgety right off. 

He had just about walked into my room when he said, “Hey, Gavin. You okay, dude? You seem little anxious.”

I forced a grin on my face and I steadied my breathing. “Ray. You’re my friend, right?” I looked at him standing in front of me.

“Yeah! Why, what’s up?” Ray questioned.

“I need to tell you something.” I paused and he looked at me with anticipation. “I’m gay.” 

Ray just stood there with the same look on his face, “Okay. And?” 

I was slightly stunned, “You don’t mind if I’m gay?”

Ray laughed for a moment, “No! Why would I?”

“I don’t know! I just…”

“Look, Gavin. I’m still you’re friend, man. You being gay does not mean I’m not your friend! You’re a cool dude.” Ray said, smiling.

“Thanks, Ray.”

“Also, thank you for trusting me with that. That was pretty fucking brave. Have you told anyone else?”

“Uh…I told Dad who told Mom and Sis. So they know. I only told one other person at school.” I mumbled the last sentence.

“Who is that?” Ray asked.

“Uh...his name is Ryan.” I admitted. 

“Oh! That senior on the football team? The one you always have ‘tutoring’ with?” Ray exclaimed.

I let out a small chuckle, “Yes…That’s Ryan. He is also gay. We’ve discussed this. But he is still in the closet so we can’t be ‘out’, ya know? Sucks. That’s why I wanted to tell you. I was tired of hiding that from my friends.” 

“I see. Well. I’m glad you got that off your chest. Sooo…what video games do ya got?”

* * * 

It was a week or two later when I came out to Michael and Lindsay. It was at lunch and I made sure Ray was with me when I told them.

“Hey, Michael, Lindsay?” I spoke across the table and then their attentions were on me. I glanced over to Ray on my left and he gave me a reassuring nod. I took a deep breath, “There is something I want to tell you. I’ve known you guys for a few months now and I feel, as my friends, you should know this.” I looked at their confused expressions that were starting to grow concerned. “I’m gay.” 

I flinched slightly when both Lindsay and Michael didn’t say anything. Just stared. 

“You are?” Michael blurted out eventually. It was immediately followed by “Ow.” Lindsay slapped his arm. 

“That’s fine, Gavin. There is nothing wrong with that.” Lindsay spoke with a warm smile. 

“Yeah! I didn’t mean to sound like a dick, I was just shocked!” Michael apologized. 

“I’m not really shocked. I’ve been noticing you have taken an interest in a certain football captain, huh?” Lindsay poked at me from across the table. 

“That Haywood guy?! Is that the guy you’ve had a ‘study sessions’ with every week for the past 3 months!?” Michael exclaimed.

“Ha, yeah. He’s gay too. We’ve been having ‘private dates’ because he is still in the closet.” I admitted. 

“If you don’t mind me asking, have you guys kissed yet?” Lindsay inquired softly. 

“No…we haven’t had a ‘good’ moment yet.” I muttered.

“So wait, he’s the one with dirty-blonde hair and broad shoulders, right?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, and dreamy blue eyes, strong arms, an—“

“Well, Mr. Dreamy is coming over here.” Michael pointed behind me and I turned to see Ryan walking over to our table with his tray of food. 

“Shite!” I snapped back to the table. “HOW DO I LOOK? Is my hair okay?!” I panicked. Running my fingers through my hair and checking my breath, I made sure I was suitable for him. 

“You look fine dude, chill it.” Ray said reassuringly.

“Hey, Gav. Is it okay if I sit here with you guys?” Ryan asked. 

“Hey, Ryan. Sure! Here.” I moved over, allowing Ryan to sit at the end of the table. He set down his tray and took his seat next to me and relaxed down. 

He looked up at Lindsay and Michael across the table and smiled, “Uh, hey. I’m Ryan. Uh…” He glanced over at me to see if I had anything to say. 

“I’ve told them, don’t worry, Ry.” I took my hand and patted his arm on the table for a moment. 

“Oh, okay good, thanks.” He let out a small huff and grabbed his water bottle on the tray and started to drink. 

“Well.” Ray spoke up. “I’m Ray.” He gave a small wave to Ryan. “And this is Michael and this is Lindsay.” He gestured to the couple across the table that waved at Ryan. 

“Hey.” Ryan said kind of shyly. Ryan then looked at me and showed off is dimple again. I smiled back and I swear we got lost in each other’s eyes. His seemed to sparkle in the cafeteria lighting and was truly breath-taking. It seemed we were locked on each other’s gazes for an eternity. 

“Well. Lunch ends in fifteen minutes…maybe you guys should eat…?” Ray pointed to Ryan’s and I’s full plate of food. 

Ryan and I looked at each other for a moment then started laughing.

* * *

It was later that night; Ryan came over to my place. We reviewed French, which he was improving greatly in, and then Mom made us spaghetti. We all sat at the table together, and talked about school and what not. Sissy loved Ryan’s voice and made him act out movie trailers in his ‘deep man voice’. It entertained us all. It felt so good to see Ryan smiling at my family. Well, my family for one year. 

Thinking about going back to England at the end of the school year really made me sad. I’d leave Austin. I’d leave Texas. I’d leave America. I would have to leave everyone I met; Dad, Mom, Sis, Michael, Lindsay, Ray...and Ryan. I started to feel tears forming and quickly brushed away all negative thoughts. I still had three quarters left in the school year yet to go. 

It was about 7 P.M. and Ryan and I were just sitting on my bed talking about random topics to try to get to know each other better. It was a game we had where he would ask one question, I answer it, then I ask him a question and he answers that. Truth or Truth we called it. 

“Alright, my turn? Uhhh…What is your favorite food when you were a kid?” Ryan inquired. 

“Uh…sometimes I’d eat pasta. Or sometimes I’d have turkey dinosaurs!” I proclaimed.

“Ha! Tur…No, I don’t think I’ve ever had turkey dinosaurs before…” Ryan joked. 

“Ah, well. You haven’t lived then.”

Ryan’s head fell back as he made his cute laugh. 

“Right well. My go then? Uh…What is the worst break up you’ve ever had?” I asked.

“Well. It was with this girl back in eighth grade. I told her that I didn’t like her enough to kiss her, and she slapped me in the face and wrote childish things about me on Facebook. Like ‘Don’t trust Ryan, he’s a crap-head who is a jerk.’ It was kinda funny now that I think about it.” Ryan chuckled. “My turn? Has anyone ever written about you on a social media site?”

My smiled faded and my shoulders fell. “Yeah…” I mumbled. 

Ryan instantly noticed my change of mood; he placed his hands on my shoulders, “Hey…what happened?” 

“Uh…ha…it’s part of the rea—…well it is the reason I’m here now.” I cleared my throat, forcing down the lump that had formed there. 

Ryan crawled over to me and sat right next to me. He wrapped his big strong arm around me and held me close. “If you want to talk about it, I’m here for you, Gavin.” He spoke softly, I could feel his soft breaths on my neck.

I positioned my body against Ryan and used him for support as I began my story. “My last boyfriend, Dan, he and I would do loads of things together. We hung out all the time. He made me feel really special because he was my first serious relationship. Holding hands, kissing, cuddling, and even talking dirty to each other. It was going really well. On our four-month anniversary, he asked for nudes. I was EXTREAMLY hesitant at first, but he was really fit and I thought it had been a long enough time for me to trust him with that. We had a pretty steady relationship after that, lasting almost a year. Then, one day, things were getting really heated at his house and, let’s just say, my pants fell and he saw me for the first time in person. Nothing ended up happening that night…but I guess I wasn’t good enough for him. That next day, my pictures were getting forwarded to me from all of my friends. Apparently Dan had sent it out to everyone saying how I had a tiny dick. He posted them to a ‘site’ and labeled my name. It was everywhere and everyone was mocking me.” I felt Ryan’s hand rub my arm slowly and I finished my story, “That’s why I’m here. There was no way I could attend school there…with Dan and those pictures floating around.”

Ryan was silent for a moment and I simply rested my head on his chest and focused on his heartbeat. His chest rose and fell calmly then I felt him look down at me. “I’m SO sorry you had to go through that. Dan is an asshole and he lost a really amazing boyfriend. You are so incredible, Gavin. Any guy is lucky to call you his.” I could hear his heartbeat start to increase and I lifted my head and looked at Ryan. His eyes were locked on mine, and then flashed down to my lips. 

He slowly got closer to my face and I sat up a little more. He was a centimeter away from my mouth when he paused for a second for me to react. When I didn’t move, he closed the distance, placing his lips on mine. My eyes fluttered shut and deepened the kiss. 

Our mouths danced together in perfect rhythm. I placed my hand on his cheek to make sure he never stopped. This was our first kiss and I never wanted it to end. I felt his teeth on my lower lip, softly nibbling and pulling. His soft tongue soothed the bites and I found myself meeting his tongue with my own. Our tongues swirled around each other, tasting each other. It was nothing gross or sloppy, just warmth and wetness caressing. Ryan wrapped both arms around me and held me closer. 

Too quickly, Ryan pulled away, his breathing slightly shaky. He huffed a small laugh and rested his forehead on mine. 

“Wow.” I broke the silence.

“I know.” Ryan replied.

We both quietly chuckled.

“Gavin?” Ryan lifted his head and looked in my eyes, “Will you be my boyfriend? Like, officially?”

My heart bounded in my chest at the sound of Ryan asking me to be his boyfriend. “Yes. I would love to be your boyfriend.” 

Ryan smiled, “Can I have another kiss then?” 

“Yes. Again.”


	7. The Big Day

“You’re going to be fine, Ryan. I know you’ll be perfect.” I said looking up to him with my arms around his neck as he looked down at me with his arms loosely around my waist. 

He pecked my forehead, “I hope so. This is the biggest game of the whole season. I just want to make sure we win. As captain, I have to lead my team an—“

“And you say I talk too much! Love, I’m new to this whole ‘high school football team rivalry’ thing, but I know my boyfriend is the best football player ever.” I kissed his lips quickly. “Now, are you ready to kick some butt?!”

Ryan smiled at me and released me from his hold, “Yeah. I think I am. I’ll be looking for you in the stands.” 

“I’ll bring my pom-poms.” I joked.

“Oh, please don’t. Okay, Gav. I’ll see you there.” Ryan kissed me once more before walking to his car in front of my house. 

It was a rather hot November evening in the wonderful state of Texas. The entire school had been talking about this football game for weeks now, and it was finally the big night. Our school was hosting the annual ‘rival’ game between our school and the other school in the district. 

Ryan would always drop me off at my house after school so we could have ‘alone time’ and to relax together. He still had not come out to his parents or anyone at school, so we decided my house, and with my friends, would be the time we could really be the couple we wanted to be.

Ryan had been avoiding Barbara at all costs. He would always sit with me at lunch, he would ignore her texts and calls, and he even stopped going to Hooters after practices. He was really trying to show me he was committed to me even though he wasn’t open about us. Which I was okay with. 

So it was the night of the big game, Michael, Lindsay, Ray, and I were all going to the game to watch it. Michael’s older brother took us all to the game and told Michael to call once the game was over. The four of us made our way to the bleachers right before the start of the game. I looked down at the field and looked for Ryan

He was on the field with his helmet on, but I could read his jersey that read ‘Haywood’ on the back. I smiled at the memory of the first time I read that name. I assume he saw me because he waved up at me. I waved back. That’s when Ray nudged my arm and nodded his head in the direction of field where the cheerleaders stood. Barbara was turned toward me, glaring across the hundreds of people in the stands. “Crap.” I mumbled, “Do you think she saw me waving and smiling to Ryan?” 

Ray shrugged, “I don’t know, dude. Maybe. Don’t worry about. Enjoy the game.” He poked me with his homemade foam finger. 

The crowd was berserk. Banners waved, people screamed and the score board read: 28-24 with twenty seconds left in the fourth quarter. We were one touchdown away from winning the game. Although I still was unsure about how the game worked, I knew that it was a close game. 

“GAVIN!” Lindsay yelled over the loud crowd, “RYAN NEEDS TO SCORE A TOUCH DOWN RIGHT NOW OR WE’LL LOSE THE GAME!” 

I focused my mind on Ryan on the field huddled with his team. I tried to clear all stress I had watching my boyfriend play the most anticipated game, and just imagined how much better he’d feel if they win. Almost instantly, Ryan broke the huddle and looked right up at me. He put his hand to the face guard, waited a second, then extended his arm and point to me. He blew a kiss to me. In public. In front of everyone. He jogged back to the center of the field and crouched in formation. 

The whistle blew. The crowd reduced to a dull cheer. I heard the feint sound of Ryan shouting on the field to ‘hike’ the ball. Then the pigskin fell into Ryan’s possession. The crowd began to count down the time: TEN! The players on the field smashed and rammed into each other, leaving Ryan open. EIGHT! He took a few steps left, then sprinted right. SIX! He dodged two opponents as he made his way down the field. Closer and closer to the ‘end zone’. FOUR! The crowd roared as Ryan had a clear opening. 30 yards. THREE! 20 yards. TWO! 10 yards. ONE! TOUCH DOWN! 

The scoreboard horns rang loudly over the hoot and howlers of the stands. Our team all ran to Ryan and put him on top of the team and carried him across the field. The other team sulked back to their bench and walked away with their heads down. 

The students in the crowd cheered and jumped and hugged each other and took pictures and everything else under the sky. Once the stands had settled down a bit, Michael, Lindsay, Ray, and I made our way down to the bottom of the bleachers. 

Ryan was being playfully pushed by his team all the way up to us. “You wish you were as fast as me, Jack!” Ryan pushed one of his teammates back with his football bag. “I’ll see you there, ‘kay?”

“A’ight man. See ya.” Jack said as he left toward the locker room. 

Ryan stood in front of me, smiling from ear to ear, “So, Gav? How was I?” He wiped some sweat that was dripping from his face. 

I jumped on him, causing him to drop his bag. He laughed and wrapped his arms around me. “Oh, Ryan! You were TOP! I’ve never seen a better football player!” I said tilting my head back to look at his face. We were just about to kiss when Ray made a very audible cough. That was cue for ‘someone who doesn’t know is approaching’. So I quickly hopped off and straightened my shirt and Ryan picked up his bag off the ground. 

“Hey you.” Barbara walked over with another cheerleader who had another football player’s arm around her. 

“Oh, hey Barb.” Ryan spoke. He looked over at the couple. “Hi Kara. Hey Joel.” Ryan adjusted the bag on his shoulder awkwardly. 

“So dude, you ever gonna go home and start that party or what?!” Joel shouted. “I wanna show Kara my awesome beer-pong skills!” The blonde giggled under his arm. 

“Oh shit! Yeah! I forgot about that! Yeah I’m on my way. I’m sure my dad has already opened the door, you head off. I’ll be leaving right now.” 

“Okay cool.” Joel set off with Kara to the parking lot.

“Oh, Ryan, can you drive me, I don’t have a ride tonight.” Barbara said seductively, placing her hands on Ryan’s arm. 

“Uh. No. I can’t drive you tonight.” Ryan removed his arm from her hold. “Uhh…here, HEY JOEL!!” He yelled over to Joel nearly to the parking lot, “Take Barb with you!” 

“But baby! I don’t want to ride with Joel!” Barbara whined. 

“I’m not your baby. You can deal with a five minute ride with them. Go.” Ryan commanded. 

“UGH!” Barbara stomped her foot and shot a glare at me and my friends. “Fine! Whatever, you want to hanging out with this fag and his lame friends, fine!” She stormed off to Joel and Kara. 

“Gavin I am so sorry! Barbara is a bitch! I need to ta—“ Ryan tried to apologize but I cut him off.

“It’s okay, love. I’ve been called worse. But what’s going on? What are you guys talking about?”

“Oh! Because we won, my dad likes to throw a big party at my house. We are all going over there, and I was wondering if you wanted to come. I can drive all of you, but two of you would have to sit in the bed of the truck.” 

I looked at my friends for their responses. 

“Sure! But I’d need a ride home after though.” Ray said.

“Us too.” Michael motioned to himself and Lindsay. 

“I can get Dad to drive us home later.” I spoke to them. “We can go, Ryan!”

“Awesome! So, let’s go!”

* * *

All five of us walked up to Ryan’s house. I loved watching my friend’s expressions; they had no idea about his house. Ryan knocked on the front door and Joel opened it, Kara still under his arm.

“Look who finally arrived home!” Joel yelled over the sound of loud music and laughter from inside. 

“James!” Ryan’s father yelled as he approached the door. “I heard you scored the winning touch-down! Your mother and I are very proud of you, son! Oh, hello Gavin. Glad to see you. Well, come in, come in! Drinks are in the kitchen!” The man turned and walked down one of the hallways. 

“Alright. Come in guys! Enjoy yourselves. But hey, Gav. I wanna talk to you for a second.” Ryan said, entering the house.

I looked over at my friends who winked and smiled. “Go ahead, we’ll be good.” Michael said, leading the others into another part of the house.

Ryan led me to a dimly lit part of the living room, music pounding against the marble floors. “So, Gavin. I just wanted to say thanks for coming to the game. It really means a lot to me. I know you don’t really understand the sport, so thanks for watching.” 

“Oh! No problem! It was my pleasure.” I replied.

Ryan smiled and took a small step closer to me, “And, I mean, we’ve been ‘officially’ together for three months. And I don’t really want to rush things, but I feel its right to tell you. Gavin, even though I’ve only known you for a short time, I lov—“

“RYAN!” Barbara screeched from across the room.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Ryan mumbled. 

“Hey babe! There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” She had two drinks in hand and she awkwardly squeezed her way in between Ryan and I to attempt to hug Ryan.

“I was kinda talking here. Mind if you go somewhere else?” Ryan asked nicely. 

She gave an annoyed look but then instantly plastered a smile on her face. “Here.” She shoved one of the SOLO cups to Ryan. “I got you a drink.”

Ryan looked at the cup for a moment then grabbed it. “Uh, thanks.” 

“Take a drink with me! For winning the game?” She held her cup as if to toast it.

They both took a sip.

“YAY! Well. I’ll leave you guys together.” She skipped away.

“That didn’t seem right, Ryan.” I admitted.

“Nah, she is just trying to be friendly. Anyways, as I was say—“ Ryan was cut off by my phone buzzing in my pocket as I reached for it.

I read the text: ‘Dad’: Coming over to Ryan’s now. Get ready to go.

“Shit. Ryan I have to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow? Its Saturday, our date day?”

Ryan sighed. “Yeah. Okay. Bye Gavin.” He held out his arms and I returned his hug as I went off to find the others.

* * * 

Dad dropped Lindsay off at her house and drove Michael and Ray home with us because they could stay the night. We played video games all night until we passed out. It was a freaking awesome day to say the least.

The next morning I was woken up by the sound of my phone going off. I looked at my phone to see it was a text from Ryan. 

‘Ryan’: Hey Gav, come by the house, I have a surprise for you.

Me: Surprise? Now?

‘Ryan’: Yep, see you soon ;)

I was puzzled at his last text. Ryan never did smiley faces. I was just paranoid. 

“Hey, guys.” I spoke, waking up Ray and Michael. 

“Mm, what?” Michael groaned, still trying to wake up. 

“Ryan wants me to go over for a surprise.”

“How are we supposed to get there?”

“I can ask Dad if we can borrow the bikes!”

Sure enough, we had three bikes: Dad’s dark blue bike, Mom’s black bike, and Sissy’s bright pink child’s bike.

“I CALL THE PINK ONE!” Ray yelled.

* * * 

We arrived at Ryan’s house about thirty minutes later. The maid opened the door, “Good morning, Gavin. Mr. and Mrs. Haywood are still sleeping. I’m not sure about Ryan, so you can enter if you want.” She let us in then turned to me, “So, how are you and him doing by the way? He doesn’t tell me anything anymore.”

“We’re doing well! Thank you.” I was happy Ryan told at least one person in his household about his true self. 

“That’s good. Well. I have to do the laundry now. You know where the food is, Gavin.” She grinned at me and headed toward the laundry room. 

“Okay, I’m gonna go to Ryan’s room.” I told Ray and Michael. I walked down the hall and turned the knob to Ryan’s door. It was locked so I knocked and stood there for a few seconds, pressing my ear to hear if there was any movement. There wasn’t, he probably fell back asleep since it took us so long to get there.

So I turned back down the hall towards the living room where Ray and Michael still stood. 

“Where’s Ryan?” Michael asked.

“His door is locked, he probably fell asleep again.”

“Oh.” Michael looked towards the hall.

Then, a door opened down the hall and my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw Barbara walk out in nothing but underwear and Ryan’s favorite t-shirt. She rubbed her eyes and stretched, causing the shirt to rise up farther. 

“Was someone knocking?” She asked groggily. 

Oh. My. Word. No fucking way she just walked out of Ryan’s room. I spared a quick glance to Ray whose face was confused. I pushed past Barbara to walk into Ryan’s room. Ryan was asleep in bed in only his boxers, his arm stretched out where I guess Barbara’s body had just been. All the air left my lungs and I had to grab the door frame with one hand and the knob with the other to keep myself standing. 

“Gavin?” Ray breathed behind me. 

I stumbled away from both Ray and Barbara and down the hall, stopping short when I saw Michael. He had a confused look at first, but then did a double take when he saw me, Ray now behind me again, and his eyes went wide as he slowly turned his head towards Barbara. 

“YOU BITCH!” Michael yelled. “YOU WHORE! RYAN DOESN’T LIKE YOU, GET OVER IT!”

A painful sob broke out of my chest when Barbara simply smirked at me, then Michael. “I…I have…have to go.” I started to run back out of the house when Ray grabbed me and slowly walked me to the front door. 

Michael ran after us, “Let’s go!”

We all got on the bikes again and peddled down the street. Before we even got more than a block away, my phone chimed. I stopped and pulled out my phone. It was a message from Ryan. I went against my better judgment and opened the text and slapped my hand over my mouth to cover my disturbed cry.

Ray stopped his bike next to mine, “Gavin?!”

I powered down my phone and shoved it back into the bottom of my pocket. “Just go! I’ll follow you guys.”

“Uh...where do you want us to go?” Ray said as he pulled ahead of me. 

“ANY BLOODY WHERE!” I cried.

Ray took off and motioned his head to keep going to Michael. He followed Ray. I got the strength in my legs to pedal again. The tears in my eyes burned as I rode down the street. I tried to concentrate on Michael’s wheel in front of me to try to push Ryan’s last text to the back of my mind. It didn’t work. All I saw was Ryan and Barbara, his hand cupping one of her naked breasts, eyes closed tight, and lips locked. The next picture, his lips pressed to her neck, her head tilted back and mouth parted in ecstasy. Ryan’s forearm and below were cut off by the bottom of the picture, but from the way his arm was going down the middle of her body, I had no doubt where his hand had been. 

My crying continued and Michael slowed down so that he was riding next to me. “What was it?”

“Photos of them. Together.” I knew Barbara was the one who took the pictures because her arm was stretched out, and I was pretty bloody sure she sent them from Ryan’s phone, but that didn’t change anything. It still happened.

Michael’s grip on the handle-bars tightened, his knuckles turning white. “Barbara is such a bitch. I can’t believe Ryan did that! I’m so sorry, Gavin.” 

* * *  
When we arrived back home, Ray and Michael told me to go take a shower and a nap or whatever I wanted to do while they explain what happened to Mom and Dad. So I took a shower and once I was settled in my bed for a kip, Michael walked in. “Hey. My brother is here, I need to go. Ray said he is gonna stay as long as you need him to. I’m sorry again, Gavin.” Then he left. I then proceeded to cry myself to sleep. 

I woke up from my nap a few hours later when I heard my door slowly open. 

“Gavin?” Ray whispered. He waited until I moved to continue talking, “Uh…Ryan is here. You ready to talk to him, or do you need more time? He won’t bother you if you do.”

I rolled myself out of bed, “No…no, I need to do this.”

We walked into the living room, and I almost chickened out when I saw Ryan sitting on the couch. He lifted his head when he heard us come in and started to stand but Dad held him down. Ryan’s eyes were puffy and red, and his cheeks were still wet. Dad tried to smile warmly at me, but it came out more of a grimace. He motioned to Ray to follow him into the kitchen, leaving Ryan and I alone in the room.

“Gavin!” A choked sob escaped him and his tears started falling harder. “I don’t remember anything; you have to believe that I wouldn’t do that to you!”

I fell into a chair near me and kept my eyes on him. “Why Barbara? The one person I absolutely hate!”

“I didn’t. I mean I don’t know, I don’t remember anything! After you left, I went over to Jack and the next thing I know I’m waking up to Michael yelling and Barbara next to me in bed. But I swear I wouldn’t touch her! I’m your boyfriend!” 

I flinched at the thought of Barbara getting back in his bed after we left. Classy. 

“I told her I wasn’t interested in her! But I KNOW I wouldn’t sleep with her! I’m gay! I don’t like her at all! You have to believe me!”

“Ryan, I don’t know what to believe right now. I think you should just go for right now.”

Ryan jumped over to me and knelt in front of me, “Gavin, we are not breaking up.” He gripped my hands in his. “I was going to tell you that I love you last night!”

I flinched at the thought of him telling me he loved me right before he slept with Barbara. “I think we need to. You being in the closet is hard for a healthy relationship anyway.” I slowly took my hands from his.

“Okay. I’ll go. Just know that I ONLY want you, Gavin.” He stood up and kissed me firmly. “I will get to the bottom of whatever happened.” He brought his mouth to mine again, and I let our lips move against each other for a few moments. “I’m sorry for everything.” And he walked out the door.

I took a deep breath before Ray walked in. I just nodded and he sighed.

I sat in silence as I heard Ryan’s truck drive away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Credits: Got an idea for the morning scene from Molly McAdam's book, "Taking Chances".)


	8. Time Goes On

December arrived too quickly. The air started to cool, school started to wrap up for Winter Break, and Ryan and Barbara were always together. After word got out that Ryan and Barbara were an item, they were praised the title of “School’s Cutest Couple”. My friends would do their best to help me avoid seeing them together, but that didn’t always work. 

Watching them walk down the halls, hand in hand, made me hurt. Watching Barbara plant kisses all over Ryan broke my heart. But what killed me the most was when Ryan would make eye contact with me from where ever he was. His eyes would be completely focused on me, with a hurt expression of longing. But that was only when he would see me, if he didn’t know I was watching him, he would be laughing and having a good time. I was not over him.

Winter Break was really good. Christmas rolled around and I decided to try to forget Ryan for a while and be thankful for what I had. Dad got me one of those children’s ‘touch and feel’ books as a joke along with $20, Mom gave me the movie I wanted, and Sissy hand drew me a gift of our ‘family’. Michael, Lindsay, Ray and I threw our own little party at Michael’s house the next day with his new TV and Xbox One system. 

My real mom and dad visited for New Years. It was really great to see them again. They stayed at the Ramsey’s with me until school started up again, then they returned back to England. I decided not to bring up anything to do with Ryan because they might have freaked out again and might have wanted to drag me back to England. So I kept quiet. 

* * *

January was slow. School took over most of my free time. The new semester took its toll on me in Physics class. Without Ryan to help me, I had to study a lot more to understand it. Luckily Mom knew some about it so she was very helpful. 

In French class, it was very boring. Professor Fontaine would use me to help teach class and help anyone who needed assistance. Basic teacher’s pet. Ryan sat on the other side of the room from me and would always reject me if I came over to help him. I would sometimes help pass back papers and Ryan’s always had big red ‘D’s and ‘F’s on them. I would place the papers on his desk and he would shove them into his folder and not even look at me. 

* * *   
February arrived soon enough. The hallways began to become pink and red for the dreaded holiday. Then came Valentine’s Day. Michael and Lindsay did a good job at not ‘rubbing it in’ at school for me. But Ryan and Barbara did not do as well. Ryan and Barbara rolled up in his Ferrari, her getting out in a sparkling outfit and new purse she was showing off. Ryan grabbed a giant red-heart balloon out of the car and handed it to Barb. It had two cartoon cows kissing on it and it read: “Happy Valentine’s Day. Let’s sMOOch!” The cheerleaders screeched and giggled at the balloon and the football players swooned at the car. 

“Hey, Gavin? You alright, man?” Ray asked, looking at me staring at the ‘cutest couple’. 

“Huh?! Oh…yeah…let’s just go somewhere else.” I sighed as I walked away from the scene.

* * * 

It was then March. School was boring. My family planned for our ‘Spring Break’ trip in April. Dad was really excited to have a ‘son’ this year on their annual camping trip. I have to admit I was pretty excited myself. 

* * * 

April started and people went crazy over their plans for Spring Break. The cheerleaders would cheer and sing at the front of the main building before school for a fundraiser to help fund their ‘Miami Getaway’. Barbara would stand in the front of the group with a bra for the students to drop their money in. Kara held a kissing booth, five dollars for a kiss, ten for a make-out session. Lindsay said that she saw Joel hand her a hundred dollar bill. 

I decided to go see Mr. Burns to see if there is anything he could give me to study over the break to prepare for the big Physics exam coming up in May. The last day before break, I walked into his classroom at the end of school to find Ryan leaning on Mr. Burns’ desk, talking to him. When I walked in, Ryan turned and saw me, instantly standing taller. 

“Uhh…Mr. Burns? I was just wondering if there is anything you can give me to prepare for the exam after the break?” I approached his desk slowly, eyeing Ryan eyeing me.

“Oh yes, Gavin! I have a review packet on the Newton’s laws and momentum and energy and all of that…is that what you want?” Mr. Burns asked as he reached down into a drawer in his desk. 

“Yes, sir. That would be great.” He handed me a thick packet of paper. 

“Okay-dokie, anything else I can help you with, Gavin?”

“Nope. This should do it. Thanks. Have a good holida—err, vaction.” I corrected my British term and started to leave the room.

“Wait, Gav! Wait up!” Ryan belted running after me out the door and down the hallway.

“What, Ryan?” I said irritated.

“Look. I know it’s been a LONG time since we talked, but I think I need to tell you now.” Ryan spoke softly but with sincerity.

“Look, if this has anything to do with our relationship…” I started. 

“Yeah! It does!” Ryan interjected. 

“…then I don’t want to hear it. You chose Barbara and its okay. I understand. Look, I gotta go, have a good Spring Break then, Ry.” I kept walking down the hallway and out the glass doors to the student pick-up. 

I thought I heard the feint sound of Ryan saying ‘I still love you’ but I figured it was just my imagination wanting it to be true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is just a bridge between the last chapter and the upcoming chapter.
> 
> Bear with me here, I will make the next chapter worth it. Promise.


	9. Prom

“Attention students, tickets for prom go on sale today. Tickets can only be bought if you are a senior, but anyone can attend if they are invited by a senior. The theme is ‘One Night in Paris’ and the date of the event is in two weeks. Be sure to purchase your tickets! Have a good rest of you day.” The principle spoke over the intercom at the end of school on a cloudy May afternoon. 

Ray and I were walking home when the thunder started to roll. “Man. Looks like it’s gonna be a strong storm today.” Ray stated. I nodded my head in agreement. “Well, this is my street. Talk to you later, Gavin.” Ray turned down the street as I kept walking forward toward my house.

I walked into the house to see Mom and Sissy on the couch, “Hey, Gavin. Dad just got off of work and is getting some food for dinner. How was school?” 

“Uh. It was fine. Nothing special.” I placed my backpack on the ground next to the door. 

“Well, sorry about that.” Mom said turning her attention back to the TV.

“Did Ryan talk to you today?” Sissy asked innocently. 

I let out a small huff, “No. No, Ryan did not talk to me today…”

“I’m sorry, Gavin.” She mumbled. 

* * * 

After dinner, the storm did not go away. The thunder shook the ground and the wind blew the tree branches all over. Rain pounded on the windows and lightning lit up my room periodically. I was relaxing on my bed, watching the ceiling light up when I thought I heard a knock at the door. I sprang from my bed and stood still. The wind howled and rain slammed on the metal roof. I had just started to relax back down when I heard another knock. 

I approached the door and opened it to find Ryan standing there, arms by his sides, water dripping off of his hair and clothes. He lifted his wet face and looked at me. “Can I come in, please?” 

“Ryan?! What the hell are you doing here?!” I pulled him into my room and went into my bathroom to hand him a towel to dry off. “There’s a bloody storm outside! How did you get back here?” 

“Your D-dad let m-me in.” Ryan shivered. He took the towel and rubbed his hair. His shirt was matted to his body and water dripped from it. His jeans were soaked and his legs were shaking. 

“Ryan, you need to get out of those clothes…” I made my way to my drawer and grabbed the largest shirt I had and dug around for a pair of pajama kecks. I handed them to him.

“Oh, Gav. I don’t want to take your pajama pants…” Ryan held my clothes.

“It’s alright. Go change, I’ll wait here.” I sat on the bed.

“Okay. Thank you.” Ryan went into the bathroom while I waited on the bed. I couldn’t help but wonder why Ryan would put himself through that storm. 

A few minutes later, Ryan walked out in my shirt and pajama bottoms with his wet clothes in the towel I gave him. My light-gray shirt was tight on him, hugging his every muscle on his chest. His biceps stretched the sleeves slightly, and he placed the towel and clothes on the table beside my bed. He sat down slowly next to me, “Now I can tell you why I’m here if you want to listen.”

“I want to know why you are here. I’m listening now.”

Ryan positioned himself better on the bed and faced me. He grabbed both of my hands, “I still want you, Gavin. It’s been six horrible months watching you from afar. Barbara is a spoiled little bitch. She is only staying with me longer than a month because of my money. Which is a whole ‘nother story.” His grip loosened on my hands slightly. 

“What other story?”

“I’ve been staying at Jack’s house the past month…”

“What?! Why?!”

Ryan hung his head for a moment before continuing, “I got kicked out of the house. I missed having you over every day and I hated that Barbara took your place. I kept thinking about what you said last time we spoke, about how being in the closet was hard to keep a steady relationship, so I came out to my parents over Spring Break. My mom started crying and my dad told me to pack my things and get out. He gave me ten minutes to leave and threw my car keys at me. I took my small suitcase of clothes and phone charger and drove to Jack’s house. I didn’t tell his family why I needed a place to stay, but they were very kind and let me crash in their guest bedroom. I’ve been living there ever since.”

“Oh, Ryan…that’s horrible…” I said sincerely. 

“And what I wanted to tell you about before the break!” He sprang up. “I almost forgot to tell you! Back on that horrible day six months ago, the thing that started all of this shit; I found out what happened.”

“Oh. With Barbara.” I stated defensively.

“That drink she gave me, she put a roofie in it. She drugged me, Gavin! That’s why I can’t remember anything.”

“A roofie? She date-raped you? How do you know?”

“One day I had to wait for Barb’s cheer practice to end to take her home when I overheard her talking to Kara. She talked about how she ‘finally scored’ the football captain but it cost her two-hundred bucks. She doesn’t know I heard her. But I’ve been waiting for a good time to tell you all of this. I attempted to tell you before break but you obviously didn’t want to talk to me. I’ve been missing you so badly I couldn’t take it anymore. I told Jack I was heading out for snacks, but drove here instead. I came here to do two things.”

“What would those two things be?” I questioned.

“One was to explain all of this shit and hopefully mend our relationship.” 

I smiled. “And the other?”

“And the other was to ask you something.” Ryan stood up from the bed and went over to his drying pants to retrieve a damp paper from the pocket. He made his way back over and gave the paper to me. I slowly opened the folded paper, being careful not to rip the soggy edges. The word ‘Prom?’ was written in permanent marker. “Gavin Free, will you go to prom with me?”

“Wha—…? Ryan, do you mean it?” I looked up at him. 

He nodded with a smile before I jump up into his arms. “Is that a yes?” Ryan chuckled wrapping his arms around my body.

“Yes. Yes a hundred times.” I looked back at his face. I looked at his mouth for a second then back to his eyes. Before I could say anything about wanting to kiss him, his mouth was on mine and moving with passion. We fell on my bed and continued to kiss for a moment or two before our mouths broke into smiles. “I’ve missed you, Ryan.”

“I missed you too, Gavin.”

* * *

Ryan and I decided it was best not to arrive together, so I had Dad drop me off a little after the dance started. I walked into the big room and scanned the crowd in hopes to find Ryan before someone else did. I was walking past dozens of students, avoiding eye contact, and found my way to the wall. But before I could turn and look back to the center of the room, two hands grabbed my shoulders and swung me around so that I was facing them. 

“There you are. I knew you’d get lost in here.” Ryan’s eye sparkled in the dim light, making them irresistible. He wore a red plaid tie over his white button-down shirt under his sleek black suit jacket. He was amazingly stunning to say the least. 

“Yeah. This is my first ‘prom’, so I’m new to this whole…thing. Sorry if I look like a right mug in this tux, it’s Dad’s old one.” I stumbled on my words and motioned to my one-size-too large suit. 

“What in the world is a ‘right mug’? Are you making up words again?” Ryan teased. His hand trailed down my arm and onto my hand, he lightly gripped it. “So, the theme of tonight is ‘One Night in Paris’ and I know you’re been to Paris before, and I promise, this night will be better than the last.”

“And I promise to help you in the language if you need it.” I smirked.

“We both know I need that.” Ryan laughed. 

“Ryan! There you are sweetie!” Barbara trotted in her bright pink heals over to the wall were we stood. She held up her matching pink dress and made her way to Ryan and went in to kiss him. 

“No.” Ryan held up his arm to block her from his face. “No. I do not want a kiss from you Barbara. I think you need to stop trying to get to me.”

She was in shock for a moment, “What? Baby, you and I are together. We’ve been dating for months now, you slept with me!”

“I did not sleep with you. You drugged me and raped me.” Ryan said sternly to her over the noise of the dance.

Complete fear took over her face, “What?” She tried to laugh it off. “What, Ryan? Where on Earth did you get that idea?”

“I heard you.” Ryan told Barbara, leaving her jaw hanging. “Oh,” Ryan continued, “and this ‘lanky Brit fag’ is my boyfriend. I am not, and never will be, your boyfriend.”

I stood in awe as I watched this all go down in front of me. Barbara was stood still with her eyes bulged out and her mouth opened in shock. I vaguely heard the song change to ‘Chasing Cars’ by Snow Patrol and Ryan held out his hand to me.

“Would you like to dance, Gav?” He asked, his eyes stared into mine and he showed off his dimple.

“Yes!” I blurted out with little thought. “Uh, I mean, sure. I’d like that.” I lightly placed my fingertips into Ryan’s palm and he held my hand, pulling me away from a frozen Barbara and leading me onto the dance floor. 

Many of the students were on the floor, swaying to the slow music. Ryan had stopped walking and was looking at me expectantly, my hand still in his.

“Oh! Right.” I shook my head for a second to get my mind back to reality, which was more or less a dream at that point. I was unsure where to place my hands, so Ryan grinned as his arms wrapped around to hold my waist. 

I snaked my fingers around his neck, resting just below the nape. 

“You look very nice tonight.” Ryan remarked as we began to rock back and forth. 

“Thanks, Ryan. You look…you look bloody amazing.” I admitted and Ryan smiled widely.

We continued to sway for the duration of the song, never breaking eye contact with each other. Too soon the song ended and all the other couples broke apart but Ryan instead closed the distance between us and kissed me quickly before backing up. 

* * * 

“What a wonderful night to spend in Paris, is it not?” The DJ spoke into the microphone. The crowd cheered then fell to a dull chatter. “Now it is about the time we crown the King and Queen.” The DJ reached under his set up and grabbed one crown and one tiara. “So, we had the voting for court held in the front of the venue, so thanks for those who voted. We had a list of five nominated kings and list of five nominated queens, and then you guys voted for the ones you wanted on this counter app. The results are in…” the DJ tapped a screen in front of him once or twice then proceeded, “King of prom is…James ‘Ryan’ Haywood!”

The crowd went crazy. Ryan looked at me and chuckled in surprise before making his way up to stage to be crowned king. “Congrats dude. Now, prom Queen is…” The DJ studied the screen in front of him for a moment. I looked around to see where Barbara was. She was standing with her cheerleader friends, fluffing her hair. I looked back up at the stage to see a woman running toward the DJ, whisper something in is ear, then scurry off the stage. I glanced at Ryan who had a giant grin on his face. 

“Well folks, looks like a slight change in titles tonight.” The crowd started to throw confused looks at one another. That’s when Ryan winked at me from up on the stage. The DJ went on, “The Queen is another King title, and that goes to Gavin Free!”

I did not move. I did not believe he said my name. Despite my lack of popularity, the students roared and cheered. I slowly walked to the stage, the sea of seniors parted. Once the DJ placed the tiara on my head, the crowd cheered louder. I made my way next to Ryan who was smiling and clapping.

“What is going on? How did I get queen?” I shouted to Ryan.

Ryan paused his clapping to point to the crowd. There stood Michael, Ray and Lindsay, they were smiling and waving and cheering.

“What are they doing here?” I yelled.

“I invited them. I told them to sign you up for Queen and get people to vote for you. I wanted to be crowned with you. Looks like they pulled it off.” Ryan smugly stated. 

“RYAN! WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE QUEEN WITH YOU!” Barbara charged the stage and screamed at Ryan. 

“Well, Gavin got queen instead.” Ryan rebutted, wrapping his arm around my waist. 

Barbara stamped her feet and wailed her arms before aggressively pointing her finger at us, “You guys are insane kings!”

“I prefer ‘Mad King’ better.” He stated. 

Barbara ran away in frustration. The crowd cheered even more. I stood there with Ryan on the stage with our crowns on our heads looking out over the mass of people. 

“Thank you for this night. It was MOST DEFINITELY better than last time I was in Paris.” I said sweetly.

“Thank you for being my boyfriend, Gavin.” Ryan let go of my waist and placed both hands on my face. He pulled me in for a kiss. A nice, sweet kiss.


	10. Farewell

“…and this is your graduating class!” The principal spoke into the microphone in the crowded concert hall as a thunder of applause boomed off the walls. I sat clapping for my boyfriend who stood with the rest of his graduation class on the stage. I glanced around at the American school I had spent the last year at and just remembered all the memories I had made there. Good and bad. I looked up at the stage and noticed Ryan smiling at me in his cap and gown and I knew it would be so difficult to leave. 

Since the Haywood’s kicked Ryan out when they found out he was gay, Dad and Mom offered to have him live with them until he went off to college. Ryan slept in my room, in my bed, and we were once again a healthy, beautiful couple. 

After we were crowned King and ‘King’ at prom, the school found out about us being a couple. Then people realized Barbara was using all her boyfriends for sex and popularity. The cheer team demoted her from captain and no one in the entire school wanted to have any romantic connection to her. She never bothered Ryan or I ether. Sometimes when Ryan and I would walk to the ice cream parlor we would see her sitting in the Starbucks next door all alone. Ry told me he felt bad that we ruined her reputation, but I didn’t give a shite; she had what was coming to her. 

* * *  
Too soon came the last week of school and I had to start packing my things to move back to England. I was placing some of my clothes in my suitcase on the bed and Ryan came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me from behind. He rested his head on my shoulder and whispered, “Don’t leave, Gav…” 

I chuckled and shut the suit case. I turned to face him. He had a sad expression on his face as he gazed into my eyes. His arms pulled me closer sweetly. I spoke softly, “Ryan, love, I wish I didn’t have to leave. But I have to finish my school.”

His shoulders dropped and he stared at the ground. Then he shook his head slightly before talking again, “After you finish school, you can move back to America! We can live together and I could help you if you join a university or if you don’t want to have more school, I can help you find a job and then we can share the bills and—“

I cut him off with a kiss. I let him relax for a moment before I ended the kiss. “You’re talking too much, Ry.”

“I know, I know. I just…I just don’t want to say goodbye.” Ryan pulled me into another hug and he rubbed my back. 

“Me either…” I breathed.

* * *

The last day of school came around which meant I only had one more Saturday in American to spend with my friends. Dad and Mom decided to host a party, a small party, for my friends and I to have a ‘going away’ thing. Michael, Lindsay, and Ray all made it over and we all played games and had an ‘all American’ picnic in the backyard. Michael brought the cheeseburgers that he and his brother grilled before he came over; they still smelled of flavourful charcoal and sauce. Lindsay brought homemade potato salad; it was so yummy and fresh. Ray brought two huge watermelons, because he wanted to be ‘healthy’. Mom made lemonade and Dad baked a traditional apple pie. Ryan and I set up the blanket and Sissy made sure all the decorations were in line. We all sat together on the red and white checkered cloth and ‘pigged out’. 

Once the sun set, it was time to say goodbye to my first three American friends. The party had moved into the house and I was standing at the front door to say my goodbyes as my friends exited the house. 

Lindsay was the first to the front door, she hugged me really tightly, “I’m gonna miss you! Please come visit soon.” She looked at me and smiled warmly before backing up to allow Michael to say his goodbyes.

He embraced me, picked me up and swung me around once before setting me down and saying, “You my boi, Gavin! Do what Lindsay said and visit sometime, would ‘ya?” He gave me a friendly nod and wrapped his arm around Lindsay and started out the door.

Ray walked up to me and smiled at me for a moment before throwing his arms around me and pulling me tight. He patted his hand on my back and spoke to me, “You’re a pretty cool dude, Gavin. I’m glad I got to be your friend. And remember, your X-Ray is only a text away.” He backed up and held out his fist for a fist-bump. I pounded my fist to his and looked at his happy expression before he walked past me and out the door next to Michael and Lindsay. 

I stood in the door way and looked at my friends; they returned the glances. Michael’s brother honked the car horn from the street and they all looked back at the car for a quick moment before turning back toward me one last time. Ryan came up behind me put his arm around my neck and looked out with me. Michael, Lindsay, and Ray smiled and waved at us. I waved back. Then they turned and made their way into the car and drove off. 

I looked up at Ryan. His sympathetic smile warmed my heart, “They’ll miss you too, Gav.” He said.

* * * 

Sunday morning; the day I had to go back to England. I slowly opened my eyes hoping to see Ryan’s structured face next to mine one last time, but I woke up in an empty bed. I sat up and scanned the room, “Ry?” I slipped out of bed and glanced in the bathroom, to no avail. I shrugged and just decided to pack the rest of my clothes and get ready to head back home. 

I dragged my suitcase into the living room to find Mom, Dad, and Sissy sitting on the couch watching Spongebob. When Sissy saw me in the room she jumped up and ran over to me, “Oh Gavin! I’m gonna miss you so much!” She held onto my leg like she did the first day I arrived. I bent down and hugged her back, “I’m gonna miss you too.”

Mom and Dad were standing in front of me, “Where’s Ryan?” I asked.

Dad looked at Mom then looked back at me, “Uh…He had to go do something, he’ll see you before you leave.”

“Okay...?” I looked at both of them smiling. I looked down at Sissy, still attached to my leg. I am going to miss them so much. 

* * *

After we said our goodbyes, the Ramsey’s dropped me off at the airport. I waved at them as they drove off leaving me alone in the Austin airport. I found a nice little bench and sat there with my suitcase and texted Ryan: Hey Im sittin at the airport. I’ll be waiting :* 

I waited ten minutes; no reply. I sighed and looked at the time. I had no choice but to go ahead and check in for my flight. I stood from my spot on the bench and looked out into the distance in hopes to see Ryan…but once again, to no avail. So I made my way into security. 

I sat in the terminal, still staring at my phone. No reply, not even a 'Read'. 

“Flight Number 275; prepare for boarding.” The female voice rang over the intercom. 

I hung my head. “Gavin.” I heard a voice like Ryan faintly say my name. I jolted my head up at the familiar sound, but did not see the source of the voice. 

I stood up from my chair and started to line up for boarding when I heard my name again, this time more distinct, “Gav!” I turned my head. “Gavin! Gav!” Ryan belted at me. He came running at me with a bag around himself. 

I dropped my phone and ran towards him, jumping into his arms. He swung me once then lightly kissed my neck before setting me down. I tried to catch my breath from my excitement, “I was…so worried…I wouldn't get to say good-bye to you!”

Ryan chuckled, “I wasn't.”

“What? You weren't worried? You didn't even read my bloody text! How was I supposed to know you were goin-“

“I knew I didn’t have to rush over here to say goodbye because…I’m going to England with you.” Ryan held my hand. 

It felt like my heart was going to explode. “How…why…when…what?”

Ryan’s laugh echoed throughout the terminal. “I have an academic scholarship for physics. The university I was accepted into is allowing me to take it online, anywhere on the planet. Also, when my parents kicked me out, they didn’t empty my bank account…so I have plenty of money to buy a decent size apartm—er, I mean, flat; as you Brits would say. I’m moving to England with you!”

I couldn’t contain my excitement. I jumped back on him and he held me up while I planted kisses on his face. “Oh, Ryan! I love you!”

“I love you too, Gav. I’m glad you were the new kid.”


End file.
